The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has cautioned public representatives and advised people of four colonies abutting the Hussainsagar surplus nala to vacate immediately as the Hussainsagar Lake got filled till 513.64 ft as against the Full Tank Level (FTL) of 513.6 ft. on Monday.
Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu also said that the long pending re-construction of Hussainsagar surplus weir and bridge with gate mechanism for 11 sluice gates opposite Hotel Marriot at a cost of Rs.30 crore has also been posed to the government along with the consultant reports.
The project once built would help regulate the outflow from the lake during heavy inflows as currently there was no such mechanism. The work was thought of after the August 2000 floods but was shelved for various reasons.
Repairs to ‘nalas’
He also stated that the government signal was awaited to take up storm water drains (‘nalas’) repairs or remodelling on the four major ones of Murki, Kukatpally, Balkapur and Hussainsagar surplus at a cost of Rs.483 crore. The work was placed in the 13 Finance Commission for funds and GHMC would bear the cost of relocation of people living alongside the drains.
For the second consecutive day, Mr. Krishna Babu inspected several flood hit areas of Tadbun, Roshan Colony, Shama Colony, Hasan Nagar, Bahadurpura, Kishan Bagh Nala, Mecca Colony and others, along with his senior staff.
Pointing out that narrow discharge points and encroachments were resulting in flooding, he said the difficulty was in convincing people to move out to safer places. For instance, Rs.12 crore sanctioned for widening the storm water drain from Nagamaiahkunta to Padma Colony was held up due to local issues.
Contractors reluctant
Contractors too were reluctant to bid for the same reason. Delayed billing was another issue and efforts were being made to sort it out between the finance and engineering wings.
For Murki nala, repairs were done for a stretch of four kilometre and Rs.1.12 crore cost estimates for 5.7 km repairs was also put up to the finance commission.
For Kukatpally nala, Rs.15 crore sanctioned by JICA was waiting to be spent as the affected families were refusing to shift.
Storm water drains were also being used as sewer lines in many places making them ineffective during a heavy rain.
Mr. Krishna Babu was, however, happy about steps being taken to protect lakes as Rs.25 crore had been sanctioned for the same. Ranga Reddy Collectorate had completed fixing of Full Tank Level (FTL) for 49 tanks. Both R.R. and Hyderabad Collectors were confident of fixing of FTLs for 25 tanks every three months so that all the 175 tanks were covered.
